Jérôme Le Banner
France | birth_date = | birth_place = Le Havre, France | fightingoutof = Étretat, Seine-Maritime, France | death_date = | death_place = | height = | weight = | style = Kickboxing | stance = southpaw | team = Le Banner Xtream Team | trainer = | yearsactive = 1990–present | boxingwins = 6 | boxingkowins = 5 | boxinglosses = 0 | boxingkolosses = | boxingdraws = | boxingncs = | kickboxingwins = 75 | kickboxingkowins = 59 | kickboxinglosses = 18 | kickboxingkolosses = 10 | kickboxingdraws = 1 | kickboxingncs = 1 | mmawins = 3 | mmakowins = 3 | mmasubwins = | mmalosses = 1 | mmakolosses = | mmasublosses = 1 | mmadraws = 1 | mmancs = | other = | occupation = | spouse = | relatives = | students = | university = | url = http://www.lebannerofficial.com | boxrec = 39471 | sherdog = 3423 | updated = December 5, 2009 }} Jérôme "Geronimo" Le Banner (born December 26, 1972), also known as "Hyper Battle Cyborg" or "The Bulldog of Normandy" is a French professional kickboxer and K-1 superstar, famous for his aggressive fighting style and knockout power. He is a legend in the K-1 sport and is still considered to be the best fighter to never win the K-1 World Grand Prix Title. He has knocked out top ranked fighters such as, Peter Aerts, Ernesto Hoost, Francisco Filho, Mike Bernardo and holds other notable wins over Remy Bonjasky and Mark Hunt. . Biography and career Jérôme Le Banner was born in the French city of Le Havre, in the région of Normandy. Le Banner started training judo at the age of 6. When he was 14, Bruce Lee's Fist of Fury influenced him so much that he started practicing karate instead, while trying to incorporate techniques of Jeet Kune Do he had seen in the film. Jeet Kune Do gave him southpaw stance, which he has maintained throughout his career, even though he is right-handed. At the age of 18, he debuted in his first Full Contact Kickboxing competitions. By 20 he held the ISKA French title and soon after that, he won the European belt against Stéphane Reveillon, and the Intercontinental belt in South Africa against Mike Bernardo. On March 3, 1995, Jerome Le Banner made his K-1 debut, winning a five-round decision over Nokveed Devy. Two months later, on May 4, 1995 he made his first K-1 World Grand Prix appearance in Tokyo, Japan, knocking out both Masaaki Satake and Mike Bernardo, before losing to Peter Aerts in tournament finals. On December 7, 2002 at K-1 World Grand Prix 2002, after defeating Musashi in the quarterfinals, and Mark Hunt in the semis, Le Banner faced three-time World Champion Ernesto Hoost in the tournament final. Following an evenly fought first two rounds, Hoost shattered Le Banner's arm with three round kicks in the third. Despite suffering near career-ending injury (a steel rod and eleven pins were inserted into his shattered arm ), Le Banner was able to recover and returned to the ring six months later in K-1 Paris 2003, winning the fight by punch combinations over Belarusian Vitali Akhramenko. On December 2, 2006, after his loss against Semmy Schilt at K-1 World Grand Prix 2006 finals, Le Banner announced his semi retirement from tournament fighting, restricting future appearances to K-1's Superfight events. In early 2007, after his fight at K-1 World GP 2007 in Yokohama he was forced to have a knee surgery and was not expected to return to the ring until 2008; however due to a fast recovery K-1 announced that Le Banner will participate on September 29, 2007 at the K-1 World GP 2007 in Seoul Final 16 against Russian kickboxer Ruslan Karaev. Just two days before the fight, Karaev had to pull out and was replaced by a former Korean Taekwondo practitioner, Yong Soo Park. It took Le Banner only 0'54" seconds to knock out Park in the first round by straight punch and qualify himself for K-1 World GP 2007 Final held in December 8, 2007 held at the Yokohama Arena, Japan. On December 8, 2007, in his ninth K-1 World GP appearance of his career, Le Banner defeated Choi Hong Man in the quarter-finals by unanimous decision before facing the reigning K-1 champion Semmy Schilt in semis. Le Banner finished the first round up on scorecards. In the beginning of the second round Schilt landed a low kick that seemed to hurt Le Banner's right knee, which he had surgery on in early 2007. The fight was eventually stopped by Le Banner's corner throwing in the towel to avoid further damage to an injured knee. Jerome fought Schilt again at the K-1 World GP 2008 in Fukuoka for the K-1 Super-Heavyweight title. Jerome ended up losing a controversial majority decision. As a finalist Jerome fought at the K-1 World GP 2008 Final 16 against young Japanese fighter, Junichi Sawayashiki. Although Jerome was unable to knock the young fighter out he won a unanimous decision. At the Finals Jerome lost by TKO to the eventual champion Remy Bonjasky. On September 26 Jerome fought Japanese rival Musashi at the K-1 World Grand Prix 2009 Final 16. Despite all the injuries Jerome had accumilated over his long K-1 career Jerome knocked down the Japanese veteran to claim a unanimous decision. In his eleventh appearance at the K-1 World Grand Prix Final Championship he fough Semmy Schilt. Jerome lost to Semmy for the 4th time in his career by first round TKO. After the fight Jerome stated that he plans to continue to fight in the World Grand Prix Final even though there was suspicion before the fight that this would be his last World Grand Prix appearance. Titles *2002 K-1 World Grand Prix Runner Up *2001 K-1 World Grand Prix in Osaka Champion *2000 K-1 World Grand Prix in Nagoya Champion *1999 W.K.N. World Muay Thai Super Heavyweight Champion *1996 I.S.K.A. World Super Heavyweight Thaiboxing Champion *1995 K-1 World Grand Prix Runner Up *French & European Kickboxing Champion Fight record |- ! colspan=2 style="background:#A9A9A9" | MMA record |- valign="top" | 3 Wins (3 (T)KO's), 1 Loss, 1 Draw |- ! colspan=2 style="background:#A9A9A9" | Boxing record |- valign="top" | 6 Wins (5 (T)KO's, 1 disqualification), 0 Losses Legend: |} See also *List of K-1 events *List of K-1 champions *List of male kickboxers *List of kickboxing organizations External links *Official Website *Le Banner's Official K-1 profile *Interview with Jerome Le Banner *JLB Biography at IMDB References Category:1972 births Category:Living people Category:French boxers Category:French kickboxers Category:French mixed martial artists de:Jérôme Le Banner es:Jérôme Le Banner fr:Jérôme Le Banner ko:제롬 르 밴너 it:Jérôme Le Banner nl:Jérôme Le Banner ja:ジェロム・レ・バンナ pl:Jérôme Le Banner